Increasing creep pellet size improves creep feed disappearance of gilt and sow progeny in lactation and enhances pig production after weaning

Objective: To determine if feeding a larger diameter pellet increases creep feed intake and growth rate of piglets during lactation, especially that of gilt progeny (GP) compared to sow progeny (SP), and stimulates feed intake after weaning. Materials and methods: Over two replicates, GP and SP (n = 2070) were allocated to two creep feed treatments, receiving either a 4 mm diameter × 4 mm length pellet or a 9 mm diameter × 12 mm length pellet, from 3 days of age until weaning. After weaning, pigs were split into male and female pens according to the type of pellet fed in lactation and fed a common diet. Feed disappearance was recorded before and after weaning (up until 10 weeks of age), along with piglet growth performance and all piglet mortalities and removals. Results: Total creep feed disappearance in lactation was higher (P < .001) in litters offered the larger pellet, but litter weaning weight for GP was not improved (interaction, P > .05). Gilt progeny were weaned lighter (P < .001) than SP. After weaning, pigs offered the larger pellet during lactation showed a tendency to receive less medication (P = .07) than pigs offered the smaller pellet. Growth rate and feed intake after weaning were both stimulated (P = .02 and P = .09, respectively) in pigs offered the larger pellet during lactation irrespective of sex. Implications: Offering a larger pellet creep feed to piglets in lactation can improve postweaning performance and reduce the postweaning medication rate.